Kinkisharyo, a North American manufacturer of low-floor light-rail cars, awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to Protran Technology LLC to outfit more than 500 railcars with the Protracker Roadway Worker Protection System (RWPS).

The RWPS was designed by Protran Technology to give advance warning to track workers of approaching trains and give advance warning to train operators of workers ahead. Protran's RWPS can also be integrated with Positive Train Control (PTC) to help meet an obligation of the Rail Safety Improvement Act which requires PTC to prevent "injuries to workers as the result of unauthorized incursions by train into a work zone." Working with PTC, the Protran system can advise Operation Control Centers, in real-time, the location of all track workers wearing Protran's Personal Alert Device (PAD).

In December 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board issued urgent recommendations (R-13-39 and 40) concerning the installation of redundant protection for track workers following the investigation of two deaths of two Bay Area Rapid Transit track workers in October 2013.